Lafourche warden pushing prison reforms

Published: Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 6:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, April 2, 2010 at 10:06 p.m.

BATON ROUGE — Tobacco and cell-phone products would become contraband and disciplinary records more thorough under a set of jailhouse bills pushed by Lafourche Parish Warden Alan Abadie.

The House Criminal Justice Committee held hearings on both issues this week, agreeing to put one on temporary hold and advancing another to the House floor for further consideration.

House Bill 23 by Rep. Damon Baldone, D-Houma, would add “component hardware of telecommunications equipment” to the definition of prison contraband, or items prisoners are not allowed to have.

According to the legislation, that includes subscriber identity module cards, also known as SIM cards, other portable memory chips, batteries and chargers.

“The prisons are having problems with people smuggling things in other than cell phones, but that are related,” Baldone told the committee Wednesday.

Present law already defines contraband as “any telecommunications equipment, including but not limited to cellular phones, beepers, or global positioning satellite system equipment, whether or not such equipment may be intended for use in planning or aiding an escape or attempt to escape from any institution.”

That language would remain in the law under Baldone’s proposed legislation.

But he also floated an amendment on behalf of Abadie to ban basically every form of tobacco product, from cigarettes to snuff.

The state has already banned smoking inside housing units and is in the process of endorsing a plan that would ban it practically everywhere else in jails and prisons.

“We would like to include it specifically as contraband,” Abadie said. “At our facility, people smuggle it in, throw it over the fence and there are trustees that try to bring it. We don’t allow it, but the judges won’t call it contraband.”

He also said the ban has caused some inmates to sneak off for a smoke, “and they’re hiding matches and trying to get a spark by rubbing (electrical) wires together.”

Baldone voluntarily deferred the bill until a later date so he could address the concerns of some committee members that the proposed penalties for contraband tobacco products might be too stiff.

“It concerns me that bringing tobacco products into the jail could possibly get you zero to five years,” said Rep. Walt Leger, D-New Orleans, a former prosecutor.

Baldone and Abadie said one possibility might be to make the offense a misdemeanor, but nothing will be set in stone until the next hearing on the legislation.

The committee did approve Baldone’s House Bill 105, though, which would allow the incarceration period of defendants facing trial to be included in their disciplinary records.

Presently, judges and probation officials are not provided with such transcripts or any other record of a convict’s pre-trial incarceration.

Abadie said such records would give inmates an incentive to act appropriately and stay out of trouble.

“The object behind this is to include this information and to give them the discretion to take it into consideration,” he added. “It should be mandatory.”

House Bill 105 is supported by the Louisiana Judges Association and now moves to the full House for further consideration.

Capitol Correspondent Jeremy Alford can be reached at jeremy@jeremyalford.com.

<p>BATON ROUGE — Tobacco and cell-phone products would become contraband and disciplinary records more thorough under a set of jailhouse bills pushed by Lafourche Parish Warden Alan Abadie. </p><p>The House Criminal Justice Committee held hearings on both issues this week, agreeing to put one on temporary hold and advancing another to the House floor for further consideration. </p><p>House Bill 23 by Rep. Damon Baldone, D-Houma, would add “component hardware of telecommunications equipment” to the definition of prison contraband, or items prisoners are not allowed to have. </p><p>According to the legislation, that includes subscriber identity module cards, also known as SIM cards, other portable memory chips, batteries and chargers. </p><p>“The prisons are having problems with people smuggling things in other than cell phones, but that are related,” Baldone told the committee Wednesday. </p><p>Present law already defines contraband as “any telecommunications equipment, including but not limited to cellular phones, beepers, or global positioning satellite system equipment, whether or not such equipment may be intended for use in planning or aiding an escape or attempt to escape from any institution.” </p><p>That language would remain in the law under Baldone's proposed legislation. </p><p>But he also floated an amendment on behalf of Abadie to ban basically every form of tobacco product, from cigarettes to snuff. </p><p>The state has already banned smoking inside housing units and is in the process of endorsing a plan that would ban it practically everywhere else in jails and prisons. </p><p> “We would like to include it specifically as contraband,” Abadie said. “At our facility, people smuggle it in, throw it over the fence and there are trustees that try to bring it. We don't allow it, but the judges won't call it contraband.”</p><p>He also said the ban has caused some inmates to sneak off for a smoke, “and they're hiding matches and trying to get a spark by rubbing (electrical) wires together.” </p><p>Baldone voluntarily deferred the bill until a later date so he could address the concerns of some committee members that the proposed penalties for contraband tobacco products might be too stiff. </p><p>“It concerns me that bringing tobacco products into the jail could possibly get you zero to five years,” said Rep. Walt Leger, D-New Orleans, a former prosecutor. </p><p>Baldone and Abadie said one possibility might be to make the offense a misdemeanor, but nothing will be set in stone until the next hearing on the legislation. </p><p>The committee did approve Baldone's House Bill 105, though, which would allow the incarceration period of defendants facing trial to be included in their disciplinary records. </p><p>Presently, judges and probation officials are not provided with such transcripts or any other record of a convict's pre-trial incarceration. </p><p>Abadie said such records would give inmates an incentive to act appropriately and stay out of trouble. </p><p>“The object behind this is to include this information and to give them the discretion to take it into consideration,” he added. “It should be mandatory.” </p><p>House Bill 105 is supported by the Louisiana Judges Association and now moves to the full House for further consideration. </p><p>Capitol Correspondent Jeremy Alford can be reached at jeremy@jeremyalford.com.</p>